Samsung is in full crisis mode with its Galaxy Note 7 cancellation, as reports say loyal users will abandon future devices from the company. A new report says Samsung is considering giving Galaxy Note 7 customers a discount on next year's Galaxy S8, S8 Plus or Galaxy Note 8.
In the months leading up to the launch of the Galaxy Note 7, it appeared almost inevitable that Samsung had a huge hit on its hands well before it ever even officially announced its flagship phablet. In mid-June we reported that Samsung was expecting strong sales of the Galaxy Note 7 and was building 5 million of the devices to have on hand at launch and ready for release.
When the Galaxy Note 7 officially went on sale in August, Samsung announced that it had experienced unprecedented demand for its new Galaxy Note 7, and that certain color options would not ship for about three weeks. Then the unthinkable happened as the number of reports of exploding batteries began to increase at a rapid rate.
The company issued a recall of the devices, halted sales, promised to fix the defect, shipped new Note 7 replacements to customers, resumed sales at all major carriers, only to repeat the exploding battery defect on handsets it said no longer had the issue and were safe to use.
One major recall of a device that was deemed dangerous to use is enough to kill a company. Claiming to have fixed the problem only to watch it be repeated, issuing a second recall and then canceling the Note 7 entirely has led to mistrust and outrage from Samsung's loyal customers, some who are reportedly considering filing lawsuits against the company.
In an effort to make up for its Galaxy Note 7 blunder, the company is reportedly considering Note 7 customers a discount offer on next year's Samsung Galaxy S8, S8 Plus and Galaxy Note 8 (if the company doesn't kill the Note series entirely.) The source of the report adds that the discounts would also target customers who have since refused to return their Note 7s thus far, with only 10 percent of about 500,000 sending the fire prone devices back.
We already know that Samsung is already working on next year's Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8 Plus. The firmware for the devices has already begun development and the company is reportedly planning to launch the new smartphones at Mobile World Congress 2017, which kicks off on Feb. 27 in Barcelona.
It will be interesting to see if Samsung actually goes through with this plan and how much of an impact it will have on regaining customer confidence in its new smartphones.
Do you think Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 debacle will have an impact on sales of its future smartphones, and will a discount give Note 7 customers the intended incentive to buy a Galaxy S8, S8 Plus or Galaxy Note 8? Please let us and our readers know in the comments below.
